Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Fat Tire Fest/Chequomegon--Barb's perspective

Congratulations to Sheryl, Brooke and yeah, myself for cometeing andplacing in the Fat Tire Fest.

Results:Sheryl ROCKED! 12th woman overall in the 40, 1st 35-29 woman!Brooke, 11th in her age group in the Short and Fat, btw, most womendid the S&F, so a competitive group.Me, 41st woman in the 40, 3rd 45-49 woman.

It's great they give prizes in each age group. It's such a cool racebecause you see every type of racer out there. Really, really fast,and really, really not so fast. It's amazing to see all who come outand do the thing. Just doing the thing is a big feat in itself. Ifyou have never done it, I highly recommend it.

This year the course was dry, dusty and fast. On the roll out toRosie's Feild, Robert flew past me with Sheryl tucked close behind.Vroom! The transistion to dirt, grass and rocks was smooth and fastand I knew this was going to be fun. Being a roadie it took me alittle while to get used to the bouncing going down hill on the BirkeTrial. Up,down, up down. I managed to follow one woman for a whilewho was so smooth and picked great lines. I lost her when my pumpbroke off and stopped to retrieve it. There it lay in the middle ofthe trail; I played an exciting game of Frogger getting piciking itup as riders came flying down a small, rocky hill. Back on the bike,here and there there were traffic jams at the one mud puddle, and acouple of sand traps. After a while the race settled in and I wasriding with a group. I had to give it some gas to get around thisguy I'll name Mr. Stinky Jersey. I'd pass him up hill, he'd pass medownhill. Ack! I finally did get around him, only after a fewmiles. The fire roads were fun; I'd pass a bunch of people, butthey'd pass me back on rocky sections. FireTower Hill was the usualwalk, ride, walk, "oh the humanity' grunt. At the top I managed toask about the free beer and about 5 guys offered me one. No, Ididn't, but I was tempted. I finished strong very glad for roadendurance and the small bit of riding off road I did the past coupleof weeks. I am pumped for next year.